I've been playing exclusively deity, I generally limit myself to one city until I defeat the first invading enemy stack and start conquering theirs. Earlier game when I'm at risk of attack I can't afford to build the elegy, I need to build the gate and mage guild and the 5-6 warriors and economic buildings I could get in that elegy build time. Once I have 5+ witches upgraded to chaos 2 I can beat any invader with pit beasts, raising the AC is no longer a priority anyway and I'd rather build the POR for the GP points. So when and how do players use the elegy?